Monday, April 28, 2014

Egypt holds rate steady at 8.25%, statement later

Egypt's central bank held its benchmark overnight deposit rate steady at 8.25 percent, along with its other rates, saying a statement from the monetary policy committee (MPC) would be issued shortly.
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), which has maintained rates this year after cutting them by 100 basis points in 2013, was widely expected to keep rates steady.
At its last meeting in February, the bank said risks to domestic growth combined with a persistently negative output gap since 2011 would limit inflationary risks.
Egypt's headline inflation rate rose slightly to 9.82 percent in March from 9.76 percent after declining in recent months from a 2013 high of 12.97 percent in November, the highest rate since February 2009.
Egypt's economy has suffered since the political uprising in 2011 with Gross Domestic Product expanding by only 1.04 percent in the third quarter of 2013 from the second quarter, the seventh consecutive quarter of declining growth rates.